US Civics Exam

Xelebes · Jul 8, 2013

thebloodfiend said:
For a second, I thought I'd gone really dumb until I remembered we called the Seven Year War the French and Indian War. I remember little to nothing about it except that I hated reading on it and something about fur was involved. The French Revolution is way more interesting, and I had to read about that on my own time. We skimmed over it in World History. I should've taken AP European History, but I kind of wanted to graduate on time.

Seven Year War is mostly studied for the Battle of Quebec and the Siege at Lunenburg. There was also the expulsion of Acadians to Louisiana.

World War I gets studied more than World War II in Canada because Canada did relatively more in the first war than in the second war. In the second war, we only took part in the Italian campaign (Battle of Ortona), Battle of the Atlantic, Dieppe, Juno Beach and the Liberation of the Netherlands. There was some minor involvement at Hong Kong and Singapore but there it ends.

benbradley · Jul 8, 2013

I didn't remember the date the Constitution was signed, but I knew it was several years after the Declaration of Independence, and that knowledge was good enough for this test.

angeliz2k · Jul 8, 2013

19/20. I got the date of the Constitution wrong. I was trying to recall when it was written versus when it went into effect. I knew it went into effect in 1789. I figured it was written in 1787 but chose 1789 because I'm perverse.

I had to guess on the number of Representatives, though I knew it was in the 400's or low 500's. I got it right. The rest I knew without batting an eyelash.

My AP US History class--and tons of reading for fun--really paid off! Thumbs up. It almost makes me glad for the hours upon hours of homework I did every night after school in 11th grade.

Chasing the Horizon · Jul 8, 2013

cornflake said:
Why does any specific matter? I suppose you could say to you it doesn't.

I don't remember the date out of any context; I remember them in relation to the events. The Declaration, the Revolution, the Conventions, etc., etc. I think it's important, or at least useful, to know the dates because it helps with the context. It's not about dates themselves, but the gaps between things, the things that were happening concurrently (if you learn the stuff that way), the general atmosphere or whatever else of the period.

If I read something set in the south in 1866, I know it was just post-war, that sort of thing. To each his or her own, but I don't think dates should be ignored.

Dates are only useful for contextualizing history if your mind categorizes things that way. Many people's minds cross-connect events in different ways. There's nothing wrong with including dates in the text for people who find them helpful, but they should never be on tests, because all thinking styles should have an equal chance of getting the right answers, and the dates themselves aren't the important part of history.

DragonHeart · Jul 9, 2013

17/20. I fail at anything that involves numbers, so mixed up the number of Reps vs. Senators. Also got the year the Constitution was written wrong because for some reason I was thinking of the Declaration. The last one was the chain of command thing cause I didn't go with my first instinct to say the Speaker of the House.

Not bad overall though.

US Civics Exam

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

angeliz2k

never mind the shorty

Chasing the Horizon

Blowing in the Wind

DragonHeart

Oerba Yun Fang